High-strength Nanostructured Silver for Shape Charge/EFP Liner Applications.

MATSYS proposes to develop and demonstrate novel Ag-based alloy with nanocrystalline microstructure and a scalable manufacturing process that would preserve the microstructure of the starting material and can be used for cost-effective fabrication of shaped charge and explosively formed penetrator (EFP) liner applications. The current material of choice for shaped charges is either copper or molybdenum and for EFPs is Ta/Ta alloy because of their appealing combination of strength, density, ductility and favorable high strain rate behavior, and relative safety in handling. High purity and uniform microstructure lead to a better ballistic performance. However, refractory metals, such as Mo and Ta/Ta alloys, are challenging to manufacture into appropriate shapes and Ta/Ta alloys are quite expensive. Our approach is to use thermodynamic modeling to design new stable nanocrystalline Ag-based alloys, and then use high energy milling to refine the microstructure of the powder material for the selected compositions and consolidate these powders into bulk, fully dense, nanostructured material. This effort will use thermodynamic modeling to identify potential Ag-based alloys compositions, and combine our unique expertise in high energy milling and instrumented-Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) to develop bulk nanostructured Ag-based alloys for next generation shaped charge and EFP liner applications.